"Trunk or Treating" instead of Trick or Treating

Trunk or treating has become very popular and is a much safer and often a more fun way of celebrating Halloween. Getting together with family and friends and making it more than just the traditional trick or treating after dark will allow children a different way of experiencing Halloween and allow adults to enjoy it more as well.

The idea is to find a location that has plenty of parking available. A field, church parking lot, anywhere that can accommodate plenty of cars. The trunks of the cars are opened and filled with candy, in bowls, plastic pumpkins, or just poured out in the trunk. Children go from car to car, or "trunk to trunk", and trick or treat. The cars, and the area around the cars, can be decorated to look scary, or as you would decorate the outside of your home. It is almost like going camping, with the area being the campground and the cars being the campsites.

Starting off with a cookout before it gets dark, maybe roasting hot dogs or cooking hamburgers, building a bonfire and roasting marshmallows can be the first activity, providing this is allowed in the space you have chosen. Then the trunk or treating can begin when it is dark. If the location permits, it could end with an old-fashioned hayride or a haunted hayride where there are scary things along the way.

No matter what the age, trunk or treating can be fun for toddlers, pre-school children or grade school. Even adults can trunk or treat! It still allows children to dress up in costumes and collect candy, which is ultimately the whole idea of trick or treating. However, with trunk or treating it can be monitored more closely and be more like a party or a cookout. In addition, when the fun is over, parents can gather their ghost, princesses and goblins and head home. Not having to get up every few minutes to answer the door, to be able to know what your children are doing and where they are, and being more fun for parents, trunk or treating seems to be the way to go. The best part is no more tricks! Only treats!